An Awesome Gift

The ladies from the Live Laugh Bee completely surprised me this past week.  They made a quilt for Boo!



It was such a sweet gift, and such a surprise.  Knocked my socks off.  And made me cry.



Love that polka dot binding!

We ALL love the quilt, and it's getting plenty of use.  Boo has napped on it.  Bug has slept under it and periodically steals it.  I curl up on the couch with it.  (Well, with it over my legs, anyway.)  My sister even got to use it at her most recent chemo treatment.

This quilt is loved.

Live Laugh Bee - Catching Up

Aside from two blocks this week, I haven't actually done any sewing for Live Laugh Bee in a little bit.  All caught up, if you can believe it!  (Well, sort of.  More on that in a moment.)  I just never got around to posting pictures.

Here's what's been going on:

Kelly requested confetti blocks.  I LOVE the blue fabrics that she picked out.  Blue, black and teensy little bits of gold in some of the prints.  Very pretty.  And she's planning to quilt with sashiko stitching, which should be gorgeous.



My second block came out a tad small.  I ran out of white fabric and couldn't find any in the right weight to sub in.  She requested that we just send small blocks if that happened.



Then Sarah requested wonky log cabin blocks.  I think wonky log cabins are my all time favorite.  Super easy to put together, lots of fun to put together, and I always love the way they look. Sarah sent a TON of fun batiks to choose from, too.





Of course, as soon as I finished Sarah's blocks I realized that I had done them wrong.

*headdesk*

She wanted then wonky, but with traditional styling.  You'll note that I intermixed the blues and greens instead of putting blues together on one side and greens together on the other.  Gah.  Lucky for me, these will be simple enough to rip apart and put back together properly.  Also lucky that she sent so much fabric in case I need to add a little more.  She also said that we could add some of our own fabrics if we have any that tie in, and I know I have some blue and green batik.

Ursula's blocks, for October, have been so much fun.  She sent out the same fabrics that I have waiting to turn into my nephew's quilt.  She requested flying geese blocks for a little boy's quilt.  It was so much fun getting to play with these fabrics and seeing how they look with the various solid colors (which I still have to choose for my project) before I've cut into my fabric.





The other blocks turning up in the flickr group look great.  I can't wait to see how she puts them all together!

Bee Blocks

There's been a TON going on with the move, but I've managed to do a bit of sewing, too.  (Thanks to Mom for letting me take over the dining area as a sewing nook!  It's fabulous!)

I've gotten some sewing done for the store, but nothing finished to the point that I want to show it off just yet.  Soon, soon.

I've also finished Susan's blocks for the Live, Laugh, Bee.  She picked the prettiest fabrics - from the Modern Meadow collection by Joel Dewberry.  I've ogled these online for awhile, but it was really cool to get to see them in person!

Susan gave us free reign on the blocks, asking only that we feature one of two specific fabrics.  I got the pretty dogwood fabric in my bundle and had a lot of fun figuring out how to work the blocks around it.



I love all of the natural light in the area that I've taken over, but I've learned that if I photograph too near the window, the colors kind of wash out.  This block is much more vibrant in real life, though the colors as a whole are still pretty soft.

For the second block, I aimed for a slightly bolder look.  (Accentuated by different lighting in the photo, oddly.)



Aiming for some good finishes this week. :)

Vanessa's Blocks

Today, I received my fabric for Vanessa's blocks for the Live, Laugh, Bee.

She requested two 12.5" blocks, if there was enough fabric, in a version of a log cabin and/or star pattern.  The star made me a litte nervous and I wasn't sure that I'd have nearly enough fabric for a second block, so I went for two wonky-ish log cabin blocks.

Block #1 came out just over 12.5".  It'll trim down nicely.



I wasn't sure how the fabrics were all going to look together when I started (though the pictures already up in the flickr group look great!), but I really kind of like the way it worked out.  :)

Block #2 isn't *quite* to size.  I was only able to get a 10" block out of the fabric that I had left, so I'm sending it untrimmed with the hope that Vanessa will be able to add another strip to each side and get a block that's workable for her.



I'm not quite as thrilled with the composition of this second block, but I don't think it's unattractive.

And, lest anyone think that I'm letting yesterday's to-do list slide already, Bug and I have already sewn together six of the twelve strips for his new little blanket. :)

Bee Blocks and Swap Stuff

It feels like there's way more to show off but, for today, I'm just going to show off a few things.  It appears that I didn't take pictures of a few things I wanted to share, so I'll have to do another show-off post soon.

First up, goodies from the Live, Laugh, Bee.

Crystal H was up first for May.  She sent out her fabrics and I was able to jump on the blocks right away.  It helped that this was pretty much the only fabric I had at the new studio that day. ;)

Crystal asked for one or two blocks, fabric allowing, in any style.  Here's what I came up with.





It's really neat to see the blocks that other people are posting.  I have a feeling that I'm going to learn a LOT about quilting before this bee is over.  There are some really talented folks in the group!

Next up, I got my goodies from the Stitch In Dye potholder swap!

Kelly sent a pair of awesome, very summery potholders.  I love them!







Kelly sent a bonus, too - an adorable little coin purse made from the prettiest Japanese fabrics.



I'd like to say that I've finished my part of the swap, but I haven't yet.  The body of the potholders are done and I think I'm really happy with how they turned out...but the binding might just be the death of me.  I had to put them aside for a bit this afternoon for fear of losing my mind.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll be able to get the binding done without feeling like the things have it out for me.

There's other good stuff to show, but I'm going to save some of that for another post. ;)